Actor William Shatner debuts country songs at Grand Ole Opry

Associated Press ^ | February 16, 2019

[Ciaphas Cain]

Actor William Shatner boldly went where no "Star Trek" captain has gone before when he took the stage for the first time for the Grand Ole Opry radio show to sing from his new album of country songs.

Shatner made his Opry debut on Friday night in Nashville, Tennessee, on the famed country music radio show along with Jeff Cook of the band Alabama. Together they released a country album called "Why Not Me," which features songs like "Beam Me Up," a nod to both whiskey maker Jim Beam and Shatner's catchphrase on the popular sci-fi TV show.

[Ciaphas Cain]

Also on the album: "Too Old to Be Vegan".

[FES0844]

Love when he’s on the Piscopo radio show.

[wally_bert]

I’ll have to catch that somehow.

[moovova]

The man is versatile.

[foreverfree]

I'm not a Trekkie, but I had to bump this, having been to the Opry in Sept. '17 as part of a bus group (we did Graceland and the Biltmore in Asheville on that same trip).

ff

[Eccl 10:2]

“Ain’t No Klingons On Uranus”

[Ciaphas Cain]

Got to see the Opry as a really young kid. I still remember seeing Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, and Grandpa Jones. George Lindsay was also performing. I had no idea he was anything but Goober Pyle, LOL.

[ArtDodger]

George Lindsey sang well and was a fine stand-up comedian. Last time I was there Kevin Costner was on the Opry. Not much singing talent there..

[OttawaFreeper]

Back in the mid 90s, I saw Bill Monroe, Bashful Brother Oswald, Hank Snow, Porter Wagoner, Grandpa Jones, Connie Smith, Doug Stone, Marty Stuart, Little Jimmy Dickens, Jennie Seely, and others. Very fun time and went to the Nashville Palace for more live entertainment afterward. Believe Marty had come out with a new single, so I saw him both at the Opry and when I went to see a taping of Crook and Chase the day before (visited the TNN studios on that trip as well).

[JBW1949]

When I was a teen, Archie Campbell used to stop by The Smoky Mountain Market in South Knoxville around midnight on some Saturdays as he headed home from the Opry...

He would stand around and gab with everybody for over a half hour...He was a great guy...

[matt1234]

Supposedly, it’s the longest running radio show in history.

[Sacajaweau]

He’s an amazing mn. Watch him on Boston legal. Hysterical.

[Ciaphas Cain]

I had a friend who was college roomies with Archie Campbell. Didn’t know that until after my friend passed away but in hindsight they were definitely on the same wavelength!

[Dr. Sivana]

The man is versatile.

He sure is. He had been seriously in danger of suffering from "Adam West" syndrome. Beside the country music and pop music albums, and priceline.com, and T.J. Hooker, and Denny Crane, and those Twilight Zone episodes, he did an Esperanto movie and Canadian supermarket ads AFTER Star Trek, and early on put in a too clean-cut but polished performance as Archie Goodwin in a Nero Wolfe pilot in 1959!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMxV9S7dz1k

[Spacetrucker]

My word, you just listed a group of all-time greats of country music. Not a huge country fan myself but I appreciate good music and talent. Would have paid big to be at that show.

[KMG365]

Believe it or not, but Shattner is pushing 90.

[airdalechief]

When I was growing up in Rockwood, TN in the 40s and 50s, I used to listen to Lowell Blanchard and the Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round on WNOK in Knoxville, TN.

Homer and Jethro - Archie Campbell - Chet Atkins - And who can forget Roy Acuff singing the Great Speckled Bird.

Then there was Cas Walker who gave Dolly Parton her start - on WIVK if I remember correctly.

I’m old now but I still remember.

[RandallFlagg]

Believe it or not, but Shattner is pushing 90.

Yup
His birthday is four days before Leonard Nimoy's, and two days before Harry Houdini's, Steve McQueen's, R. Lee Ermey's, and mine.

Loved him in Kingdom of the Spiders, too.

[buckalfa]

I like Shatner. He is self deprecating as to his role as Kirk while being somewhat able to avoid being type cast as a Trekkie. However that which has been heard cannot be unheard.

[Ciaphas Cain]

Shatner is the closest modern culture has produced in the way of a renaissance man. He never stops finding new ways to explore his humanity and no matter which direction that leads him, he gives it his very best effort.

That's an amazing lesson for anyone to take inspiration from.